T'ward The Morning Star
by Kuchikiwraith
Summary: "Has the Darkness ever possessed you? Sunk it's claws into your heart, singing your failures to you in a whisper?" Loki finds redemption in an unlikely young woman who knows what it means to have demons.


AN-This story was inspired by Thor:the Dark World, Unnatural Issue by Mercedes Lackey and Deerskin by Robin Mckinley(which are variations on the donkeyskin fairytale). The fic title comes from 'What though I Tread The Thorny Path Of Pain' love sonnet 28 by John Barlas. It will come into play in much later chapters. This fic is pretty dark and violent, so you are forewarned. Tons of thanks for my beta reader, the wonderful Keysmashtoinfinityandbeyond. This story would not be as great without you!

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Disclaimer-Marvel owns everything. Including my soul. I only am responsible for listening to my characters' pokes.

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Fylgja-Norse for Banshee

* * *

**June 21, Asgard**

Loki raised his golden goblet high in a toast. "To the Lady Sigyn. May her beauty fill these halls for ten thousand years." he boomed out in Odin's voice. The sorceress sitting to his right blushed prettily. Loki smirked to himself. When he'd faked his death on Svartalheim nearly a year ago, he'd never imagined that Thor would renounce the throne. It had worked in his favor in the end, for Thor was one of the very few people on Asgard who could see through his glamour. Without Thor there to cry foul play, Odin remained safely imprisoned on the Island of Silence. Loki sipped his wine and surveyed the feast with watchful eyes. Something had been bothering him all morning, and the fact he couldn't pinpoint the source of his discomfort made him very uneasy.

As a round of toasts began, Loki cast his mind to Odin's prison to assure himself that the All Father was still there. It would be highly inconvenient for him to show up just now, not when Loki's plans had nearly aligned. The King of the Nine Realms was still shovelling slope to pigs, a situation Loki found quite amusing. He smirked into his goblet. No one had even suspected that Odin was not who he appeared to be. Any strange behavior on his part was attributed to grief. Loki's heart clenched. He'd gotten the only person who ever truly loved him killed. He couldn't even blame Thor this time; it was Loki who'd told that monster how to get past the guards. Loki prayed that Odin never escaped his prison and that he never found out Loki's role in Frigga's death.

Loki would not discover this for quite some time, but at that moment across the nine realms, everyone with magic simultaneously felt a perverse sense of wrongness. On Asgard, Loki gasped and clutched his chest as pain seemed to blossom in his very soul. Learning about his true heritage had not hurt like this. Loki felt his Odin glamour shudder, and he desperately tried to hold on to it. His concentration was completely shattered by the wail of a fylgja, and he collapsed to the ground, barely aware of the Aseir's screams of terror. Loki sucked in pained breaths as something tried to integrate itself into his magic, and it took several agonizing minutes to build the necessary walls to keep out the strange entity.

Loki pulled himself to his feet unsteadily and blanched as Odin burst into the hall, his expression murderous. _Damn_, he cursed.  
"SIEZE HIM!" Odin roared. Loki was too weak to try any sort of escape, something that infuriated him. He was seized none too gently and hauled into a dank cell far below the palace, a place that had not seen use since the days of Bohr.

Once the ominous echo of his cell door clanking shut died, Loki created an illusion of him sleeping so the guards couldn't see what he was really doing. That wasn't to say he was doing anything in particular, but he was the kind to enjoy his privacy. Regardless of his control over his powers, Loki burned with rage. He'd been so close to accomplishing his goals and it had all been undone in the space of a Midgardian minute. Pushing aside his rage, he meditated to find out what exactly had gone wrong. Loki felt bile rise in his throat as he connected with the mystical energy that ran throughout the Nine Realms. He could only describe the state of magic in the Nine Realms as 'raped'. His rage turned to utter disgust. If he ever found the person responsible for this atrocity, he'd rip out their heart through their throat. Magic was a finicky little creature at the best of times- now she'd be an outright bitch to deal with.

"The All Father demands your presence," a haughty voice drawled from the other side of the cell door. Loki rolled his eyes at the tone and briefly considered refusing to come, but the opportunity to publicly mock Odin for his stint as a pig keeper was far too entertaining an enterprise to do anything other than comply.

"The Lady Sigyn, among others, is dead because of your actions, Loki Odinson. What have you to say for yourself?" Odin's voice echoed off the walls as Loki entered the golden hall. Odin glowered down at Loki, his fingers curled tightly around his spear. Loki barely managed to hide his shock. He hadn't realized that anyone had died, but it did make sense-Magic had lashed out at whatever it could reach in retaliation for the way it had been violated. Loki did not say this though, only shrugged at Odin.

"What makes you think I care that some weak Asier died?" he countered flippantly. Odin's jaw ticked in an effort to keep a lid on his temper. "I did consider turning them into pigs, but this is so much more interesting," he added, a malicious smirk on his face. Odin flushed with rage and embarrassment.

"Loki Odinson, for the taking of innocent lives and impersonating the King, you are here by banished-" Odin's punishment was interrupted by Heimdall entering the room.

"My King, forgive the interruption," Heimdall said as he bowed to Odin.

"What are you doing here, Heimdall?" the All Father asked, gesturing for the gatekeeper to rise.

"Loki is not responsible for anyone's death- he is only guilty of impersonating you. Loki himself was affected by this attack, which came from Midgard. He is the only one on Asgard to have survived the assault," Heimdall said. Loki could hardly believe that the Gatekeeper, of all people, was defending him. Not that he needed that simpleton to help.

Odin gave Loki an evaluating look. "I see. Loki Odinson, You have two choices. The first is this: you will be chained on Midgard beneath a snake that drips venom on your face, or you will figure out what happened this day and correct it."

Loki really did not like either of these options, but as the second choice could be interpreted as free reign to slaughter the moron responsible for the rape of the Nine Realms, Loki chose the latter.

He gave a put upon sigh. "How is that a choice of any kind? I suppose I'll clean up this mess," he said.

"Good. Guards, release my son," Odin ordered. The moment he was free of his cuffs, Loki cast a spell to turn all the guards into pigs and vanished before Odin could figure out what he'd just done.

* * *

June 22, 2pm. Earth

"Sir, there is a stranger on the roof of the Avengers Tower. I believe it is a young woman."

Tony heaved a sigh. He'd had an awesome day already- his butt had been chewed out by both Nick Fury and Pepper. Nick for the 'New Orleans Incident'- like he meant for that red-eyed bastard to blow up those warehouses! - And Pepper for ticking off Nick. To make his day even more perfect, it was raining. He was glad that his armor wasn't literally made of iron or he'd have more issues then he'd know what to do with.

"What did she do, appear out of thin air? And it's Stark Tower, not the Avengers Tower. My name is on it and everything," Tony griped. No one would call it Stark Tower anymore... just because most of the Avengers lived there for various reasons didn't make it _their_ tower.

"Appearing out of thin air is impossible, as air is not thin. She appeared on the A in your name by means of teleportation."

Tony let out a string of expletives and ducked around the Empire State Building, the rain pinging off his armor. He flew around Stark Tower and pulled himself into a hover in front of his name.

"Well that's not at all creepy," he muttered to himself. Rain streamed off the bloody red figure crumpled on top of the A, staining the letter pink. He reached out and poked the dead-like arm, rather warily. It could've been some sort of trap, for all he knew.

A pair of arctic blue eyes opened and stared right through him the moment his hand made contact and the billionaire yelped as he jumped back. "SHIT!"

Soft, kitten-like whimpers escaped pale lips and the girl's chest began heaving in panic at something only she could see. The sounds coming from her mouth unsettled Tony and he wanted to simply leave and pretend it'd never happened, but that would be no good to either of them. In her case, hypothermia would likely lead to her death, but in his case it was something much, much worse. Bad press. He hated bad press.

He approached the girl once more, hesitantly this time, and carefully held out his hand to her as she continued to whimper. "Come on then, let's get you cleaned up."

As the girl's whimpering continued, he became more unsettled and wished that he could make it stop. His arm remained outstretched for the girl to grasp, but her ice blue eyes continued to stare through him as if he weren't there. Tony pushed back his mask so she could see his face. "It'll be warm inside," he cajoled.

Finally the girl put her hand in his and allowed him to take her inside. Tony only set her down long enough for his armor to be removed, then he carried her to his bathroom.  
"Call Bruce and Natasha in here, Jarvis," he ordered as he turned on lukewarm water. The icy coldness of Kitten's skin made him hesitate to make it any hotter in fear of sending her body into shock.

* * *

Natasha craned her neck around the hood of the car so she could see her target. Bullets erupted, zipping by scant inches from her nose, and she jerked her head back to safety. Quickly sticking her hand over the roof, she fired off three shots, a smirk crossing her lips as she heard three thuds, indicating that her targets had been successfully terminated.

"Miss Romanov, Master Stark requires your assistance with a young girl he found on the roof. I believe she's injured. He's in his bathroom."

Natasha blinked, holstered her guns and exited the training room. Of _course_ Tony had just brought a strange girl into the tower, wounded or not. She was going to beat his head in for ignoring security protocols. Again. She nodded to Bruce as they both entered the lavish bathroom in a jog- and promptly skidded to a halt. The glass of the huge walk-in shower was splattered with pinkish red splotches and bloody water was slowly creeping towards their feet. Natasha took one look at the girl's dress and knowing that it was not something the girl would ever wear again, she ran back to her own room to get something for the girl to wear.

As Tony sat on the ground, trying to rinse the blood off of the whimpering girl, Bruce knelt next him to take her vitals.

"You can warm the water up a little, Tony. After you get her cleaned up, bring her down to the clinic, okay? I don't like how sluggish her responses are- I think she's going into shock," he said. Tony nodded as Bruce left.

A few seconds later, Natasha stepped into the shower wearing only her bra and panties. She had stripped for two reasons. First of all, wet leather was a pain in the ass to get out of. Secondly, wet leather was very hard to move in and Natasha wasn't about to risk anything on the off chance that the blood soaked girl might not freak out and try to kill Tony. She knew that the reason Tony had wanted her here was in case the girl snapped out of her semi-catatonic state. After the whole 'Tiffany' incident last year, Tony was very careful of the way he acted around young girls. The possibility that the girl could be an assassin probably hadn't occurred to him either. Natasha grabbed the shampoo and began scrubbing the poor girl's hair to speed up the cleaning process.

After Bruce had left, Tony felt a jolt of panic as he realized he was alone with the girl- he could already see the ugly headlines. To make himself feel better, he made a mental note to tease Natasha about the rather conservative undergarments later for leaving him alone. If he was going to suffer, he wasn't going to suffer alone.

* * *

Pepper sighed and kicked off her shoes. It had been a long day and Tony had been dodging her calls for the last three hours, probably thinking that she was still mad at him for ticking off Nick Fury. She grabbed a granola bar from the kitchen and headed towards the bedroom, thinking only of a lovely hot shower and Tony's welcoming kiss. She nearly choked on her granola bar when she spotted the pink splotchy walls and pink lake that sat in the middle of the bathroom floor.

"Jarvis, where is Tony?" she asked, her voice unwavering despite her concern.

"Master Stark is fine. He found a girl covered in blood on the roof. None of it seems to be hers, but Dr. Banner wanted to keep her in the clinic for observation. She seems to be in shock, and Dr. Banner suspects she might have PTSD. Master Stark is sitting with the girl in the clinic, whom he's decided to call Kitten for reasons unknown to me."

Pepper threw away her granola bar, her appetite suddenly lost, and went to find Tony.

He was slumped into a hard plastic chair that somehow seemed mandatory for all medical facilities, his eyes glazed as he scrolled through some schematics on his tablet. Pepper touched his shoulder gently to get his attention. Tony started, and then smiled wearily at her before setting down his tablet and reaching out to set his hands on her hips. With a sigh, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his head against her stomach.

Pepper stroked Tony's hair and lifted an eyebrow at the snow-white hair of the woman who lay on the cot facing away from them. "Jarvis said you found a _young_ girl on the roof," she said softly, wondering if there was something wrong with Jarvis.

Tony's reply was muffled by the fabric of her dress. "I did. Her hair's just that color for some reason. Whatever happened to her was really bad, Pep. Bruce sedated her so she could get some rest, but she was making these freaky kitten noises."

Pepper sighed. "So I take it we aren't going to try and find her family?" she asked. "What if this is some sort of trap?"

Tony pulled away from her and glanced at the huddled figure on the bed. "We'll take her finger prints and a blood sample. For now, we won't do anything with the information, but if she turns out to be a danger, we'll figure out who she is," Tony decided. Pepper nodded and sat in Tony's lap to cuddle with him.

* * *

**June 25, earth**

_There was no sound. It was creepy, seeing the trees sway in the wind but not hearing the sound of rustling leaves. Ash trees, she thought. She yelped soundlessly as one of the trees was splattered with blood. Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream. She chanted to herself mentally. __**Wake up**__! _

She bolted upright with a shuddering gasp to stare at a pale blue wall, frowning in confusion. She didn't think hospitals came in any other color then bleach. She could tell that she was in the hospital because of the steady beeping of various machines meant to record her vitals. The thought of hospitals brought up the memories she'd tried to run from in her dreams and she felt tears streaking down her face. _They're all gone they're all gone. I'm alone. I'm... Alone._ She thought despairingly. Before she could really start crying, someone softly cleared their throat.

Her head snapped to the side and she saw _Tony freaking Stark_ sitting next to her bed. She couldn't believe it- what was Iron Man doing in her room? Had she lost her freaking mind? "Hey there Kitten. You feeling any better today?" he asked as his brown eyes filled with genuine concern.* _Kitten?*_ she thought, still disoriented by the whole situation. "What's your real name? I can't really keep calling you Kitten," he added, almost as an afterthought.

_Why are you in my hospital room?_ Was what she intended to say, but choked before the first word was all the way out of her mouth. She struggled to breathe, clutching at the blankets around her legs as the monitors she had attached to her began screeching in alarm. "Hey, hey hey, it's okay, Kitten. Come on, breathe. That's right, deep breaths. Slowly, now," she heard distantly. A few minutes later Tony's concerned face came back into focus, his hand gently rubbing her back in a soothing manner.

"Okay, so you can't talk. Let me get you something to write on," Tony tried after she shrank away from his touch. As the billionaire left the room, she sniffled. "_I wish my words would never hurt anyone again"? Geez, what a stupid thing to wish. I screwed that up_, she thought. She refused to think about why she'd made the wish anymore and concentrated on her impression of Tony Stark. For a man who'd supposedly slept with every supermodel who'd ever existed, he was really nice. Then again, media had a way of blowing things way out of proportion when it came to celebrities. Her heart trembled as she thought of Ani, who would be freaking out right about now. But Ani would never be a silly girl again- she was gone, gone forever. Her chest began to tighten with despair, so she was thankful to be distracted by Tony's reappearance with a pad of paper and a pen before she went into a full-blown anxiety attack.

She took it, and scrawled out the question that had been bothering her since she'd opened her eyes.

No offense Mr. Stark, but why are you in my hospital room?

Tony ran his fingers through his hair and gave an awkward chuckle. "Uuh, you're not in a hospital. I found you on the roof of my tower three days ago. Actually, you might know it as the Avengers tower, but it does have my name on it. You've been pretty out of it since I found you. Do you remember anything?" he asked.

She was in New York? She was from a small Oregon suburb and didn't have the ability to teleport, far as she knew. Tony nudged her notepad to get her attention. "Where are you from? What can I do to help you? Also, what do I call you?" he asked. She bit her lip and thought for a long moment before writing a reply out.

Well, I'm not from around here. And I don't care what you call me... As for helping me, just give me some cash and I'll get out of your way.

Tony wasn't offended by the slightly hostile tone in the girl's note. He couldn't even say he was all that surprised she was reluctant to share anything personal about herself. He just shook his head at her and gave her his most charming smile. "Look, Kitten, I can't, in good conscience, just hand you a wad of cash and let you wander around alone. You can't talk, for one thing and for another, your appearance will attract the wrong sort of attention. You can stay here in the tower until we figure out how to reverse the not talking thing," he said quietly as he fidgeted with a tongue depressor.

Kitten frowned and cocked her head at the billionaire. She was only averagely pretty, nothing to make her stand out. Tony, seeing her confused expression, sighed and rubbed his face. "From your expression, I'd say you have no idea what I'm talking about. When I give you the mirror, try not to freak out, okay?" Tony warned, and fetched a small mirror from the cabinet.

Kitten tentatively looked into the mirror and nearly had a heart attack. Her hair was no longer a soft black, but white. Her eyes had changed too, from light brown to blue. It wasn't just any shade of blue either, but the bright, frigid blue eyes of babies and white wolves. She lifted her eyes to meet Tony's and forced back a whimper. She thought she might be very lucky to be alive- not many people lived to tell the tale of seeing raw magic. It also meant she probably shouldn't talk about it, seeing as she'd been party to something completely vile. It hadn't been voluntary in the least, but she somehow doubted Magic would see it that way.

Fine, I'll stay for now. I appreciate your help. she wrote. Tony smiled crookedly at her and patted her hand. "No prob, Kitten. As soon as Bruce clears you, I'll find you a room," he said. "I'm going to go drag Bruce away from his microscope and get your room ready while he checks you over," the billionaire decided, and strode out of the room, the smile fading from his face as he did.

Tony rubbed his forehead and sighed as he walked down the hall to Bruce's private lab. He really, really did not want to know what had happened to Kitten. They'd need to know eventually, but Tony got the sinking feeling that he wasn't going to like it at all. He hadn't liked the way she'd stared at him so suspiciously, as if he was going to change into a monster. The media being what it was, he knew she'd heard some interesting stories about him, but he didn't think that had much to do with why she was reluctant to tell him her name.

"Hey, big guy," Tony greeted Bruce as he leaned against the doorway. Bruce looked up from the thick textbook he was reading and rolled his eyes.

"I am not helping you do whatever it is you have up your sleeve. Remember Natasha and the dresser incident?" Bruce said archly as he removed his glasses to clean them.

"No idea what you're referring to," Tony replied innocently, "and I have nothing up my sleeve. Kitten's awake. If you'll check her over, I'll go and set up a room for her. She needs to stay with us for a bit considering she chokes whenever she tries to talk. Also, I think her appearance may have changed; she seemed pretty shocked when she saw her reflection," Tony filled in briefly. Bruce sighed and followed the billionaire back to the clinic.

Kitten rested her chin on her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. She would not cry, she couldn't. If she cried, she would never stop. She was alone in the world now, and had only the dubious care of Tony Stark to rely on. She'd heard things about the man, and while the paparazzi tended to over exaggerate, she knew that all rumors carried a grain of truth.

When Tony and a slightly shorter man entered the room, she couldn't even muster the strength to smile. "Hey Kitten, this is Bruce. He'll take good care of you. I'll be back in awhile, okay?" Tony asked. Kitten nodded as Tony slipped out of the lab and Bruce checked the monitors attached to her, frowning at something he saw on them.

Twenty minutes later, Bruce had cleared Kitten to leave the clinic, though he was hesitant to do so. It was clear from the questions he'd asked her that she'd gone through something horribly traumatic. The fact that she wouldn't talk about it worried him, especially after she'd declined a rape test.

* * *

**June 28th**

Clint Barton sighed as the quinjet approached Stark Tower. He wasn't even sure what day it was anymore- SHIELD agents had been chasing a hostile for three weeks and they'd been in three different time zones and five countries. Clint was definitely ready to hide out and relax. At least for the five minutes before something attacked earth again. He sighed melodramatically. (Not that he would ever admit it.)

Seriously though, he couldn't see what was so damn appealing about Earth sometimes. Humans had spent so much energy messing it up that he couldn't figure out if other species wanted it for terraforming or a garbage dump. Either way there were plenty of other planets to choose from so they could just screw off.

Hopping nimbly off the jet, Clint waved off the pilot and slipped the tower. Quietly, he unstrung his bow and hid it behind one of Tony's creepy angel statues that they all avoided. After, he went directly to the kitchen to grab a water bottle before heading back towards his room. He sometimes wondered how Pepper had put up with Tony's need to buy crap like that when he was bored. If it were up to him, he'd have choked the billionaire ages ago.

Normally Clint was able to relax when he was here in the tower, but he could feel something wrong that kept him on edge. He was trying to shake it off as he took turn in the hallway, and found a pale figure suddenly in front of him. He had his gun drawn on the stranger before his water bottle could even hit the floor. In his peripheral vision he could see red hair that signalled Natasha coming up behind the girl, and felt his entire body tense with the need to protect.

"Clint, wai-" she began to say.

Before she had gotten any more else out, Clint's entire world spun. He found himself on his back, his own gun now trained on his forehead, and the girl's tiny foot pressing lightly on his windpipe as he got a chance to take in the ceiling in a new way. His professional mind noted that the placement of her foot was intentionally held in a way that could result in real damage. Damage that could politely be described as crushing. The not professional part of his mind was busy mocking him.

"Well I guess we know you can take care of yourself, Kitten," Natasha dryly addressed the girl who was standing on Clint's throat. "You can let him up, he's one of us," As the girl moved away, Natasha put on a mockingly polite face that she reserved just for him. "Clint, meet Kitten,"

Clint stood and eyed "Kitten" warily as she returned his gun after putting the safety back on. There was something oddly robotic about her actions that made his neck hairs stand at attention. She even looked a bit inhuman. With her white hair and icy blue eyes, she looked a bit like the ghost from a kids' movie he'd watched once while babysitting as a favor to Phil Coulson. Clint still hadn't forgiven his boyfriend of 12 years for that incident. In fact, Phil would owe him till the end of time.

"Hi," he greeted, still wary as he holstered the weapon.

Kitten pulled out a purse (where from Clint had no idea, since it hadn't been there a moment ago.), and a tablet from within it. She typed out a message for the archer as he stared, trying to figure out that trick (seriously, purses didn't just appear). Hello. I'd apologize for scaring you, but you did start it by pointing a gun at my face.

Clint read the note she'd written and snorted. "Maybe if you hadn't played Casper, I wouldn't have felt threatened enough to pull my gun,"

Kitten smirked at that, some of the creepy blankness leaving her face. Thanks for the new nickname. Kitten is cute- for a five year old or an exotic dancer. She turned to Natasha. Miss Romanov, what are the chances of Mr. Stark actually calling me Casper now and not Kitten?

Natasha read the note and winced. "It's just Natasha, please," she sighed, "You can _ask_ Tony to call you Casper, but he'll probably stick with Kitten. It's just a Tony thing. If you don't mind, I want to talk to Clint for a few minutes, so go find Pepper and tell her I'll be there later," she said. The newly dubbed Casper simply nodded and padded down the hall towards the living room, her footsteps so quiet that she actually seemed to be a ghost.

Clint arched an eyebrow. "Why doesn't she talk? Did she take a vow of silence or something? Because she isn't deaf," he asked, and he would know.

Natasha shook her head. "She _can't _talk. Tony found her on the roof the day after you left. She was covered in blood and in the rain and she went into shock. We aren't sure what happened before she came, but she's suffering from the same symptoms of PTSD, and it's bad. Not that we needed to wake up to her screaming at that top of her lungs every other night or the bleeding walls to tell us that. Tony thinks she's a witch- he's already established she's not a mutant," Natasha said as they walked towards his room.

"And with that little stunt she just pulled, I suppose you want me to keep an eye on her," he guessed, flopping down on his bed as Natasha sat far more gracefully.

Natasha hummed back an affirmative. Clint pushed on. "What is she doing here anyway? It doesn't seem like the Director would've been on-board with her just hanging out with the most powerful people on Earth. And Thor sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I don't want her hurt, but she doesn't exactly seem stable."

She shrugged. "Fury wanted to keep her in a facility, but Tony wanted to keep her here. He said he'd take responsibility for anything related to her. It's weird actually. He doesn't want her, but he's really protective," She sighed, pausing for a moment to run a hand through her hair, before lying down next to him, situating her body against his. "I'm concerned she's subconsciously influencing him to protect her, and she's only been here for about a week."

Clint allowed her to find a comfortable spot, both of them moving in the unconsciously comfortable way of friendly former lovers. If there were such a thing outside of them. He lay quietly, allowing them both to think for a moment.

They were SHIELD Agents- suspicion of strangers was literally a requirement. Tony's new pet seemed harmless enough on the surface, but Clint had dealt with the situation a hundred times over in his (relatively) short career. He'd seen Natasha pull off the same act, just as well as Kitten did. Better even. All of that aside, Clint had to wonder at the odds of the girl just ending up with the Avengers- next to nothing that involved them was an accident.

He rubbed at his eyes, though the irritation was mental and not physical. He thought he was finally going to get a break after that last mission, but apparently, the world had other plans in mind for him. He changed the subject a bit. "Why, exactly, are we calling her Casper?" he asked, tone slightly mocking. "This is just a wild guess from all the sass she had about 'Kitten' being a hooker's name, but I'm starting to think, just maybe, she's called something else? You know," he sighed, "a _real_ name."

Natasha shrugged. "That's something else that doesn't add up. Tony thought that she might've forgotten it at first, but she's not suffering from any kind of amnesia. When Pepper asked, she refused to tell us and just said 'Names have Power'," she told him. "Not to mention the fit that she threw the other day when Tony asked her how long she'd been dealing with magic. She got so upset that Bruce had to come in and sedate her before her hysterics got out of hand. I almost believed that she wasn't a spy that day, but then she goes and tackles down a trained SHIELD agent as if it were nothing. It just doesn't add up," she rambled on in a tired kind of way.

They lay quietly for several quiet minutes before Natasha bumped his elbow. "So, what took you so long?"

* * *

**June 29th, 9pm**

Tony stared at the Norse God of Thunder in astonishment. "I'm sorry Thor; I couldn't hear what you just said over the sound of my survival instinct screaming at me. You want that...that brother of yours to _what_?" Tony asked, folding his arms across his chest. Thor had the grace to look slightly uncomfortable.

"Man of Iron, I need you to allow Loki to stay here. I will watch him personally, but I cannot do it alone. My brother is on a quest, one given to him by the All Father. I cannot allow him to roam this world unsupervised, and I would not let him near Jane's family if I can help it," Thor said, giving Tony a pleading look. The billionaire looked at the rest of the Avengers and lifted an eyebrow.

"What do you guys think?" He asked the group.

"I want to know what Loki's quest is, personally. I mean, what's to keep him from going off the deep end again and killing us in our sleep?" Clint asked as he moodily stared out the window. Thor ran his fingers through his hair and flushed a little.

"Loki has incentive to fulfil his quest. To understand our father's anger, I should explain what happened after you allowed me to take him back to Asgard," Thor said, and launched into the explanation of the previous years. "I don't know when he did it, but Loki imprisoned our Father and impersonated him until nine days ago. That day, something ripped through the veil connecting the nine realms. Father assumed that Loki was responsible, but it was not so. The source of the attack was here on Midgard. For his crimes of impersonating the King, Loki must find the person responsible and repair what he can of the veil. His other choice is imprisonment beneath a venomous snake. My brother chose the first one," Thor concluded.

"So in other words, Loki is covering his own ass. Works for me," Natasha spoke up. When the rest of the Avengers stared at her, she gave a small shrug. "I'm liking the we-can-keep-an-eye-on-him angle. Besides, like Thor said, he has incentive not to double cross us," she pointed out. Tony scrubbed his face. If there was one thing that they'd learned over the last year and half since they'd started working together on a regular basis, it was that nothing ever went according to plan. Nothing.

"Katniss? Shrek? What do you think? I mean, Loki screwed the two of you the hardest," he asked.

Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose and heaved a sigh. He was not going to respond to Tony's childish need to give everyone a sarcastic nickname. "Since I'm still here and the other guy isn't, I don't see it as a problem. He'll let you know when it is."

Clint shrugged. "At least I'll know where he's sleeping," Clint pointed out, his smile promising pain if the 'god' tried stepping out of place.

Tony turned to the Thunderer with a resigned expression, and a falsely flippant tone. "Well, why the hell not? Let's bring on the Apocalypse."

* * *

**July 1**

Ten days. Casper stared at her bandaged hand and sighed. It had been ten days since her world had imploded. It was as if she was walking through the aftermath of a zombie virus release. Her lips did a weird thing, and she realized she'd just smiled. Sort of. Saying her world had imploded was an understatement, and it sounded stupid anyway. Calling it her Personal Apocalypse sounded much cooler. Also, it might make the Avengers stop asking so many damn questions. She shivered as darkness rose within her for a moment. Clint knocked on her open door and smiled at her, chasing back the darkness. "Hey, kiddo. Come with me to the roof- there's someone Tony wants you to meet," Clint said.

Casper considered refusing- she wasn't feeling social at all, but Tony was putting up with her so she seriously owed him. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she ignored Clint's outstretched hand and led the way out of the bedroom. Clint dropped his hand and escorted her to the roof, seemingly unoffended by her refusal to touch him. 

* * *

With the Loki shaped plot bunny firmly attached to my soul, my Inuyasha fic is on hiatus. Also, I'm cranky at it... My flash drive died and took a chapter and half with it. T.T)


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